"It's good for the kids to get them thinking about baseball again," Karl Rentzheimer, camp director, said.

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Optimistic. Hopeful. Excited.

For many high school coaches, the Pocono Dome in Sciota has offered a new venue, close to home with its doors open.

In less than a month, the newly constructed 56,000- square foot Dome has welcomed numerous youth soccer, field hockey, softball and other leagues.

And now high school coaches are taking the chance that the space can give their teams an offseason edge.

"The bottom line is, and any high school baseball coach will tell you, you are always fighting for gym space," Pleasant Valley baseball coach Charlie Inserra said. "We're at the mercy of the teams in season, outside leagues using the gym and it's a tough battle. We may have to come in at odd hours or weekends. For us to go in on a Thursday at 4 p.m. is great."

Starting this week, PV's baseball team is using a portion of the dome once a week for the next four weeks. Total cost: $150 for one hour, using 1/4 of the dome. The team's booster club is picking up the tab.

"I think we are going to be the first high school baseball team to use the facility and we're looking forward to it," Inserra said.

Eight local field hockey teams formed an eight-team league — Stroudsburg made up two teams — but kids from Pocono Mountain East, PV and Bangor were also some locals to get in the league.

"We needed something like this for a long time," Stroudsburg coach Jen Lobasso said of the venue which just opened last month. "The kids love it. Winter weather is an issue and trying to travel to Wilkes-Barre and Allentown, just the time alone is invaluable. We would get home at 11 at night. Now all our games are scheduled at 6 or 7. For kids that have homework, it's a lot easier to juggle."

The Dome's field is FieldTurf, the same surface used at Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg South, Pleasant Valley and East Stroudsburg University.

The surface is a huge plus for PV football coach Jim Terwilliger, whose team will get on the turf for the first time Wednesday.

"This gives us an opportunity to have a place where we can go if anything breaks loose," Terwilliger said. "If we have inclement weather in late November, I don't see why we couldn't use it."

Last fall some schools closed due to power outages. Any future events may create an opportunity to use the Dome. Many baseball and softball teams don't see their fields until the middle of March — some much later than that.

With three batting cages (two with machines, one without), the Dome offers a place for hitters to get some work in no matter what the weather.

The Dome will also host clinics like the upcoming baseball clinic directed by former Bears coach Karl Rentzheimer on Feb. 18 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Cost is $75 and players can register at www.poconodome.com/sports.

"I think potentially it could be a great resource because our kids are always traveling to great distance for anything," Inserra said. "For years, we'd go to Hitter's Edge in Whitehall. We always travel. The reality is I think our guys have always been willing to travel, but we have something in our backyard that could satisfy our needs. For us, the interest level is huge, but financially we have to make it work."